SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Jeremiyah Love saw members of Duke’s punt return team pointing at him when he lined up on Notre Dame’s punt coverage unit for just the fourth time this season.
“They pointed to me,” Love said Tuesday, “but I didn't really think nothing of it. I was just like, ‘You don't know what's going on.’”
Maybe the Blue Devils also noticed the Irish put extra blockers in front of Love, and long snapper Michael Vinson lined up aiming toward him rather than punter Bryce McFerson. But Notre Dame moved quickly to initiate its fake punt on the first drive of Saturday’s 21-14 victory at Duke.
Love needed to pick up four yards for a first down. The Irish made it look easy with a 34-yard gain. No defender touchdown Love until he was well downfield.
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“I know that everybody knew their assignments and were going to get to their blocks,” Love said. “I got a little bit of speed, so I know that I can help them out from my speed and make them look good as also they’re making me look good.”
Two plays later, Notre Dame scored its first touchdown of the game in what turned out to be a defensive battle. The Irish didn’t score another touchdown until running back Audric Estimé provided the game-winning one with 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
The last two games, starting with a 17-14 loss to Ohio State, have come down to the final minute. Six games into Love’s college football career, he’s seen a lot.
“It's been very fun to be honest,” Love said. “We played our hardest against Ohio State and things didn't go our way. But I still believe that we played to the best of our abilities. We made a couple of mistakes, but we played our hardest and outcome was just disappointing.
“I kind of see a similarity between Ohio State and Duke. It kind of went the same. Against Ohio State, we were up towards the end of the game, and then Ohio State came back. And Duke we were down, and we were kind of like Ohio State against us, and we came back.”
The highs and lows of the last two weeks haven’t impacted the 6-foot, 197-pound Love.
“I wouldn't say they're emotionally draining, to be honest,” Love said. “They're most definitely physically draining. This is just me. I don't really react to things like everybody else. Like my emotions don't really — I'm not really moved by a lot of things.
“As for like a loss, I kind of look at that as something to learn from. In the end, I don't really think I've lost, because I can only learn and get better. Yeah, we got a loss on our record, but for me a loss really isn't a loss. It’s an opportunity to learn from what I did and grow from that.”
The lessons for Love have come with increased responsibilities in Notre Dame’s backfield. As the season has progressed, Love has been asked to do a wider variety of tasks in the Irish playbook.
“Coach always says that everybody has to know everything,” Love said. “But when you go from having your set point of things that you're doing to actually expanding on that and starting to do more, it kind of hits you and you have to actually like really know everything and know what you're supposed to be doing. That's great for me. It will help me be a more complete player. I'm already supposed to know everything, but getting more snaps and doing more things is forcing me to get to learn everything.”
Notre Dame has asked Love to do more than just show his speed on the perimeter. But outside of a seven-yard jet sweep that was recorded as a catch, Love couldn’t find much running room against Duke’s defense. His four carries in the offense totaled only 10 yards.
Love was hit before he reached the line of scrimmage twice. Once by safety Jeremiah Lewis tracking him down from the back side. The other time Love collided with wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. on a counter play in which Flores was supposed to help lead block for Love.
“Everybody has to know what they're doing,” Love said of the sloppy counter play. “It was just in game a little mistake. We learned from that. Making sure that in practice we try to control that and get better alignments and have better timing.”
Notre Dame’s offense has also incorporated Love in a two-back set alongside Devyn Ford. That provided a big part of Love’s eight-carry, 57-yard performance against Ohio State.
“I think of us, me and Devyn, like that dynamic duo,” Love said. “We’re the mustangs. We’re fast. When people see us on the field, it’s just like, ‘Oh shoot, we got two fast guys in the backfield.’ We're both threats because of our speed and agility.”’
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker remembers noticing Love’s speed in summer workouts. That started to trigger the idea of Love being able to play right away as a freshman out of St. Louis Christian Brothers College High.
“It happens with guys like that that have that much of a skill set and are that fast,” Parker said. “When you saw him in summer running, when we first got a chance to do it, it was kind of one of those moments where we're like, 'Wow. He can go.’
“And then to go on with it, which is a testament to [running backs coach] Deland [McCullough] and him, he picked up on it pretty fast. He's at a point now where he understands most of it. He's done a really good job learning, and he's gifted. So, we've got to keep finding ways.”
Physicality has also been present in Love’s running style. Of the 220 rushing yards he’s gained on 31 carries, 140 of them have come after contact, per Pro Football Focus. That’s an even higher percentage of yards after contact (63.6%) than starting running back Audric Estimé (61.3%).
Love has embraced the game of avoiding defenders since his early days of playing youth football. He loved to be “Michael Myers” in a game where defenders were supposed to track down the Myers character running with the football.
Even if a defense knows Love’s getting the ball, it can be hard to track him down.
“I like to make people miss, get a lot of knock downs,” Love said. “It's always been very natural for me to make people miss or get knock downs, just run away from people. I kind of think of it as a game in my head just trying to run away from people. Not trying to get tagged.”
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